Secret ballot used in NTI board vote

NTI (Northwest Technical Institute) campus in Springdale taken Friday June 2, 2017.
NTI (Northwest Technical Institute) campus in Springdale taken Friday June 2, 2017.

SPRINGDALE -- The Northwest Technical Institute Board of Directors violated the state's Freedom of Information Act when it voted using a secret ballot last month, according to an expert on the open meetings law.

The secret vote happened during the board's Sept. 19 meeting while the five directors were choosing whom among them would serve in the three board officer positions.

Northwest Technical Institute

Northwest Technical Institute is a state-supported school offering programs for high school students and adults in allied health, information systems, the industrial arts and other areas. A five-person, volunteer board of directors oversees the school. The board’s next montly meeting is set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at 709 S. Old Missouri Road, Springdale.

Source: Staff report

When it came time to choose a vice chairman, two directors were nominated: Carlos Chicas and Derek Gibson. Blake Robertson, the institute's president, intervened just as the board was about to take a voice vote on the matter.

"Do you want to do this written? Do you want to do this anonymous?" Robertson asked the board.

Chairman Tommy Free asked what the rule was on voting anonymously. Robertson said the board had the option of voting in secret. Directors wrote their choices on slips of paper. Robertson collected the slips, counted them and announced Gibson had won the vote, 3-2. He did not say who voted for whom.

John Tull, an attorney for the Arkansas Press Association and expert on the state's open meetings and records law, called the board's action a "clear" violation of the state FOI law.

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in 1989 in the case of Depoyster v. Cole that the governing board of a public entity violates "the overall intent" of the law, if not specific sections, when it uses unsigned, written slips as ballots.

The court was ruling on a case in which a man challenged the voting methods of the executive committee of the Arkansas Activities Association.

"It is vital in a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner so that the electors shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity and in making public policy," stated the majority opinion in the court case.

Robertson said this week he simply didn't know the rules and was trying to help board members by letting them vote anonymously for their preferred candidate.

"I just did it at the last minute to avoid any embarrassment on the part of the members," he said.

Free said this week he understood that to be Robertson's motivation as well. He said they wouldn't use the secret ballot method again without having directors sign their ballots and make them available for public inspection.

The two votes for Chicas were cast by Free and Chicas. The three votes for Gibson came from Gibson, Anthony Doss and Aaron Wright, according to Free. Robertson said he didn't intend to ask directors to revote on the matter.

Only one person was nominated for both of the other two board officer positions: Free for chairman and Wright for secretary. Both were chosen unanimously in separate voice votes.

NW News on 10/14/2019

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